Computer mouse information

The humble computer mouse that we take for granted has come a long way since it was first invented in 1963 by Douglas Englebart. It made it’s first major appearance on an Apple Mac called the Lisa around 1973.

Today there are many various types of computer mouse , they are available in many colours and design, with everything from plain, to high tech, through to car designs ( such as the Audi TT mouse I’m using).

Apart from all this are really only two types of mouse available, the first original type is called the mechanical mouse often referred to as the ball mouse which moves the cursor on the screen as the ball revolves in relation to its internal rollers.
Mechanical mice are very robust, but do require periodic cleaning to remove dirt and grime from rollers and the ball, to keep them running smooth.

The next type of computer mouse is the Optical Mouse , sometimes called the laser mouse, which is not entirely accurate, but this name seems to have become popular.

The original optical mice needed to have special mouse mat or pad which had a grid pattern which was used as a guide for the mouse’s LED. New optical mice have no such problems and work well on a multitude of surfaces.

The only drawback of Optical mice, they don’t work well in bright light or on bright surfaces. So when looking for a mouse the choice is generally easy, an optical computer mouse is certainly better than the mechanical equivalent in most cases.

There have been a number of variations of each mouse type over the years, these include the ergonomic mouse which can help with problems such as RSI by helping you keep your hand in the correct position.

The wireless mouse has become more prominent over the years, initially it started out as infrared which was quite hard to use as the mouse had to always be pointed at the receiver. Later wireless mice come in mechanical & optical variants, when choosing a wireless mouse, best again to choose the optical computer mouse type, with charging ability, otherwise it can prove quite annoying when normal batteries begin to fail, as the cursor will work and stop, as the mouse loses wifi connectivity.

Mouse interfacesGenerally there have been 3 types of interface used by computer mice, the earliest type was the serial type, this was a 9 pin d-type plug, the mouse had to be plugged in before the computer started up or there was no connectivity, it could also not be removed or again the pc would have to be restarted. It also had to be configured using its own software.

Next we have the PS/2 type, this was a circular DIN connector and became very popular in a short space of time, due to its ease of use when setting up.

And finally we have the USB interface mouse. The USB mouse is very flexible, and can be removed while the computer is on, it can also be plugged into any USB port.

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